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As Gorou sat down in the chair in Yae Miko’s office, the idol glanced around at the new art style that Yae has chosen for her office. Seems like the fox woman was a big fan of sakura trees with how many paintings she had in just one office. Of course the picture of the almighty shogun seemed to be placed beside Yae’s own self portrait as if they were an exclusive item or on equal grounds. Yae had arrived shortly after Gorou noticed the paintings, her heels clicking against the floor as she made her way over to the desk.
“Seems like you’ve been a busy lil’ pup, Gorou. How is your back feeling?” Yae asked, as if indicating that she knew what had happened between the oni and idol just a few nights previous to their meeting. This seemed to catch Gorou off guard as the idol became a bit flushed in his appearance.
“I-It’s fine…” Gorou stammered a bit before clearing his throat. “It’s fine.” He stated in a more reassured tone though his blush did still linger a bit as he sat upright in the chair. Gorou watched as Yae Miko took her seat and swirled in the leather chair to face the idol.
“Good.” Yae Miko remarked as she collected some papers that were laying on top of her desk. “Speaking of good,” Yae paused as she moved to rest one leg over the other. “We finally figured out who tried to kidnap you.” Yae spoke, causing Gorou’s ears to perk upwards. The silence in the room was deafening as Gorou was waiting for Yae to continue, however it seemed the fox liked keeping the idol in suspense.
“So who-” Gorou started to ask before Yae continued to speak.
“It was a witch that goes by the name of Alice.” Yae spoke, her smirk seeming to turn into a frown at the thought of Alice. Gorou looked at Yae with a confused expression as he never heard of this witch named Alice before. “She’s a nasty witch with a capital b who has been trying hard to make her own lil’ idol group to rival all the nations of Teyvat.” Yae continued as she swiveled back and forth in her chair.
“So why would she come after me?” Gorou asked, unsure as to what Alice’s plan was to get Ms. Hina involved in an idol group when Ms. Hina was already popular enough in Inazuma. If there was a rival company who offered Ms. Hina more money it wasn’t like the idol would be able to take the offer. Considering how ironclad the contract Gorou had with Yae, there was no way the idol was going to break it.
“She probably wanted to discuss you joining her team rather than staying with us.” Yae remarked, the seething hatred of this woman named Alice seemed to be more evident the longer the two talked about it. “But you wouldn’t defect from us, would you, Gorou?” Yae asked, looking sternly into Gorou’s eyes.
“Of course not.” Gorou was quick to remark. “I don’t see what Alice would be able to offer me that would rival what we already have.” Gorou continued, knowing that his secret was safe from everyone outside of their small circle. After all, it wasn’t like Yae was prohibiting Gorou from seeing Itto. Speaking of which, it seemed like Itto had been rather busy with his new duties as the official leader of the Arataki gang. The two haven’t been able to see much of each other since that particular night.
“Well it’s reassuring that you wouldn’t simply defect on me and join up with that witch just to spite me.” Yae remarked with a small smile on her face. Despite all the teasing that Yae often did to Gorou, it wasn’t like she was out to harm her favorite idol. “Since we’re discussing the matter of you being our top selling idol, would you be interested in continuing your career with us? Or would you rather take your chances elsewhere?” Yae asked, pulling out a contract from one of the desk drawers beside her.
“Oh, it’s that time already?” Gorou asked, taking the contract in hand to look it over. It seemed that everything was the same besides the notice of his pay increase. There was a new item added about his identity being revealed to those not within the company that posed a problem. “What’s this about?” Gorou asked, pointing to the pink highlighted part of the contract.
“It’s just a safety measure since you’ve been letting certain people know about who Ms. Hina really is. We don’t want the media to catch wind and have all our hard work go down the drain, is all.” Yae quickly remarked. It was bad enough that Gorou had been hanging around a certain oni, Yae couldn’t exactly trust the oni to keep a tight lid about Ms. Hina not really being a woman. “If a certain someone lets slip who Ms. Hina really is, we will make sure to handle it in a way that would still keep your little secret.” Yae reassured Gorou that it wasn’t a big matter.
“You really don’t trust Itto to keep my secret?” Gorou asked, sounding both offended and angry that Yae would think so little of Itto. “He cares for Ms. Hina more than anyone! He would never let her secret out!” Gorou continued to defend the oni.
“Relax, Gorou.” Yae spoke as a means to calm the idol down. “It’s just a safety measure. I doubt that anything could happen that would make us have to take action against your precious oni.” Yae continued as she slid the pen over towards him. “If you have your own doubts about it, you can simply not sign it.” Yae added, almost seeming to tempt the idol into signing it. Which worked as Gorou picked up the pen and signed the contract. “Pleasure to still do business with you lil’ pup.” Yae spoke in a sing sung tune as she collected the contract. “Now, go ahead and enjoy the rest of your day. I have some other matters to attend to.” It seemed that Yae didn’t have much time to toy with Gorou as the fox woman got up from her chair to head back to the elevator, leaving the idol alone to think over what Yae had said.
After exiting the building, a familiar oni seemed to be waiting for Gorou to be done with his business. A smile crept on Gorou’s face as he ran over to Itto. The oni was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans that had various rips on the front of his legs while a band t-shirt rested underneath a red flannel shirt as dirted sneakers rested on the oni’s feet. As Gorou joined Itto’s side the oni greeted the oni with a big goofy grin.
“So?” Itto spoke with an upwards inflection. “How’d it go?” Considering that it would have looked odd to have the tall oni coming into the idol group, the pair had thought that it was best that Itto stayed outside while Gorou handled the evil witch manager known as Yae Mikp. “Did you sign the contract?” Itto asked, eagerly waiting to hear what the idol had to say.
“Yeah,” Gorou replied as his eyes glanced down towards the street. It would have been nice to be able to have a normal life again, but with so many fans looking forward to the next Ms. Hina concert, Gorou couldn’t simply disappoint his fans. They were part of his world afterall. To be able to see so many green glow sticks in the crowd as the fans sang Ms. Hina’s song was always the highlight of each concert. “But let me ask you something, Itto.” Gorou spoke as he glanced back up at the oni. “Do you think it’s right to keep up this lie?” It was a question that Gorou always seemed to ask himself as he could never find the right person to ask this sort of question. Since Itto knew who Ms. Hina was and still stuck around, perhaps the oni could give some insight that Gorou could never understand.
“Hm….” Itto hummed as he rubbed his chin in thought, taking this question seriously. “Honestly,” Itto paused, leaving Gorou in suspense as to what the oni had to say. “If the fans love Ms. Hina’s music and it’s not hurting anyone, I don’t see a problem with lying about who Ms. Hina really is.” Itto remarked, seeing as how people loved the disguised Gorou with the angelic voice of Kokomi signing as Ms. Hina. It kept the shy girl out of the spotlight while also letting her do what she loved the most. “I mean, it took me a bit to get used to the fact that the Ms. Hina on stage was you. But I’ve learned to accept it.” Itto continued, smiling down at Gorou before the pair started to walk back towards the concert hall where Ms. Hina was going to perform that night.
“Besides,” Itto spoke up once more as he glanced down at Gorou from the corner of his eye. “There have been plenty of debates and theories that Ms. Hina isn’t just one person.” This news came as a bit of a shock to Gorou. Did people suspect that Ms. Hina on stage wasn’t really a girl and that they were right about there being more than one person who makes up Ms. Hina?
“Was it really that obvious?” Gorou asked, wondering if maybe he shouldn’t have signed the contract at this point. Gorou wanted his fans to enjoy their experience and love Ms. Hina for who she was. If there were mistakes made, or if it was obvious that there was more than one person behind the idol, why did people still keep coming to the concerts? Maybe it wasn’t too obvious to normal people and Itto was just saying this to throw the idol off a bit?
“In the beginning it was a bit obvious.” Itto remarked with a small chuckle at the end. “But you guys did it well to cover it up a bit. Mostly when you weren’t as in synced with the actual singer. People thought that the videos were delayed a bit so it made it seem like Ms. Hina on stage was lip syncing.” Itto started to explain as they made their way towards the alleyway that led to the big concert building. “You two must have spent hours practicing to make it hard for new fans to tell the difference, huh?” Itto asked, causing Gorou to nod his head.
“Yeah…” Gorou trailed off a bit. The fact that Kokomi and Gorou would practice on their off days for hours to make sure that they were perfectly in sync made all their efforts worth it. After all, when they lived together for the years that Ms. Hina had been active as a beloved idol, Kokomi and Gorou could simply glance at each other and knew what to do in regards to Ms. Hina.
As the two crossed the street, it was only when they were heading behind the concert hall that the pair came to a stop. Close to the back entrance of the hall were two individuals who seemed to look like foreigners were hanging outside the door. One was a blond haired male who looked to be around the height as Gorou. There was a section in the man’s hair that was pulled back into a short braid, while the man’s outfit looked as if he was some sort of scientist. With him was a little girl who was dressed in all red with two cute little pigtails on each side of her pointy elf-like ears.
“Klee, we should wait until the meet and greet if we want to hand your gift to Ms. Hina.” The man spoke in a rather soft voice as he talked to the girl like she was a young sibling. There were only a few people in Inazuma who had blond hair, and neither of them looked like this man. Well, perhaps maybe the only one who came close to looking like this man was Thoma, but that was it.
“But I want to see her excited look when she gets to take a look at my gift.” The little girl softly whined as she turned to look at the man with a big box that was almost the same height as the little girl. “Isn’t there a way for us to be able to see Ms. Hina before the show, Albedo?” Klee asked as a small sniff came from her nose as if she was trying to keep from crying, but the man softly shook his head as he closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry Klee,” Albedo spoke as he reached a hand down to take Klee’s hand. “We can see if the people in the front can hold onto the present until it’s time for the meet and greet. How does that sound?” Albedo suggested, figuring that if giving Ms. Hina the present was so important to the little girl, then perhaps Klee could wait until the event to give the idol the present.
“...Okay…” Klee remarked, sounding dejected as she shuffled her feet a bit as the pair walked towards Itto and Gorou. Seeing the dejected look on the girl’s face, Gorou couldn’t help but feel sad for the little girl who looked so happy and excited to give Ms. Hina the present.
“Excuse me,” Gorou called out towards the two, causing Albedo and Klee to look at Gorou as the idol walked towards them. “I couldn’t help but overhear that you were looking forward to giving Ms. Hina a present?” Gorou remarked, causing Klee to nod her head in excitement.
“Yeah! I was going to give Ms. Hina this cute little stuffed doggy with a dress on it that my mother hand made herself.” Klee spoke up with a big smile on her face. “But since I can’t give it to her now…..I don’t know when I will be able to give it to her…” Klee pouted yet again, her eyes glancing down to the big red bow on top of the present.
“Well,” Gorou paused a bit before he knelt down to be leveled with Klee. “How about I give it to Ms. Hina for you?” Gorou asked, a smile landing on his face as he could see the excitement shine in Klee’s eyes.
“Really?!” Klee asked excitedly. “That would be wonderful!! I hope she will love it!” Klee spoke as she started to jump a bit from her excitement. Gorou couldn’t help but smile, seeing fans get excited about giving Ms. Hina presents was another highlight that Gorou got to enjoy. Though there were times when the fans could get a bit creepy with their presents, it was always the kids giving Ms. Hina presents that Gorou loved the most.
“Mmhm.” Gorou nodded his head before pulling out his badge for the concert hall. “I work for Ms. Hina personally. So I can guarantee that she’ll get the present before the show.” Gorou reassured Klee before glancing up at Albedo. “That is, if you’re alright with trusting me with it.” There were a few times where someone would claim to work for Ms. Hina and take the presents away to either take for themselves, sell, or toss away.
Albedo took a second to glance over the badge that Gorou presented him before looking over towards Itto. “That’s okay. I’m sure that those working for the Yae Entertainment Industry are reliable. So I don’t see much of an issue of you taking Klee’s present to Ms. Hina.” Albedo remarked before reaching down to grab a hold of Klee’s hand. “Hopefully we’ll be able to run into you again in the future. Maybe at the signing event?” Albedo asked, though he didn’t wait for Gorou to respond. “Come on Klee, we’ll get something to eat before the show starts.” Albedo smiled down at Klee who seemed to be in a much better mood.
“Yay!!” Klee chimed happily as the pair started to walk off. “Can we try those fried noodles again? They were really yummy!” Klee asked as she kept in line with Albedo before turning to wave good bye to Gorou and Itto. “Bye Mr. Doggy! Hope to see you again soon!” Klee yelled before the pair turned the corner to head back to the street.
“Are you sure it was wise to take the little girl’s present?” Itto asked, looking at Gorou with concern. There was something off about this whole situation that Itto didn’t like. Normally this area was completely deserted. Only cast and crew were allowed to be back there, and yet these strangers from another land were just waiting to give Ms. Hina some sort of present?
“Of course, Itto” Gorou remarked as he set the present down on the ground before opening it. Sure enough, there was a little doll that looked like a crocheted doll of Ms. Hina laying on the bottom of the big box. “Aw!” Gorou chimed happily as he reached in to pick up the doll. “It looks just like Ms. Hina.” Gorou remarked as he pulled the doll out of the box before feeling a tug from the doll. Before either one of them knew it, a pink smoke fog shot out from the box before engulfing the pair.
As the two closed their eyes and coughed, the hard surface of the alley was replaced by a red carpet. The surrounding area of the alleyway disappeared before being replaced with a more elegant setting. As Gorou finally opened his eyes, the idol was surprised to be looking at the inside of a lavish hotel suite with the view of the concert hall being in the distance outside of the window. There was not much furnishing in the room except for a long table with a figure of a woman sitting in the darkest part of the room. She was wearing a big red hat that one would associate with that of a witch resting on the woman’s head. Bits of blonde rested on the woman’s shoulder as elf ears, like that of Klee, were tucked into the hat. The dress the woman was wearing was similar to the little girl as well, indicating that she must be a foreigner as well.
“My, my…” The woman spoke in a softer tone than that of Yae Miko. “Seems like I finally caught you.” The woman spoke as the smoke disappeared. “Though I’m surprised to see….” The woman stopped as she looked at Itto. “That a demon has trailed with you.” The woman continued as she remained seated.
“Wait….” Gorou spoke as he finally stopped coughing. “Did you used your daughter to try and get Ms. Hina?” Gorou snapped, his ears lowering as his anger started to raise. Using a little girl to try and get Ms. Hina was the lowest of the low.
“I normally don’t use my daughter to try and get things that I want, but in this case, her love of Ms. Hina seemed to weigh in my favor.” The woman remarked as the seat in front of Gorou magically turned on its own. “Now, let’s get down to business.” The woman spoke as Gorou refused to take a seat.
“Just who are you?” Gorou asked, still standing in place as he crossed his arms. Itto on the other hand just seemed to stand in the place he landed, not knowing what was going on. “Why do you want Ms. Hina?” Gorou asked, figuring that this person must be the witch that Yae was talking about.
“If you’ll just take a seat, I’ll be more than happy to answer all of your questions.” The woman remarked, her face still hiding in the darkness of the room. “I promise you I’m not a bad guy.” The woman reassured Gorou, as if that would be enough to entice Gorou to take a seat. As it seemed that Gorou was not going to budge, the woman snapped her fingers, causing the chair that had pulled itself out to swoop behind the idol and force Gorou into the seat by surprise before pulling itself back up to the table.
“What the-?!” Gorou was taken by surprise, unsure as to how a simple chair was able to scoop him up with such ease. It happened so fast that neither Gorou nor Itto knew what happened. It was almost like the chair came alive, scooped Gorou up, and then went back into position before anyone knew what happened. “Let me go!” Gorou demanded, pushing against the chair that seemed to be stuck in place now.
“Are you all settled now?” The woman asked, crossing her arms across her chest while waiting for the idol to relax. “Good.” The woman continued, not even waiting for Gorou to respond. “Now, as you have probably been told, I have been trying to recruit woman into an idol group from all over Teyvat to represent their region.” The woman started to explain, though this was what Yae Miko had already told Gorou about what the woman named Alice was trying to do. “I have some ladies who are on the fence about it, but if I could just get one of you lovely girls to sign with me, the others will surely follow afterwards.” The woman named Alice continued, only to have Itto scoff at her.
“Pssh! As if that will ever happen.” Itto remarked, causing a brief glare from Alice. “First of all, Ms. Hina is the most beloved idol in Inazuma! You really think that she would be willing to leave her current rankings to join some potential idol group that hasn’t even completely formed yet?” Itto asked, surprising Gorou a bit with how quickly he stood up for Ms. Hina. “Not to mention, Ms. Hina is a woman. Who you captured was one of her stage hands. So,” Itto paused a bit for a dramatic tension. “You’re simply wasting your time with a speech that wouldn’t even apply to him.” Itto finished, a big grin on his face as he figured Alice would simply let them go as it was clear Ms. Hina ‘wasn’t’ there.
“Ah, the simpleton boyfriend.” Alice remarked before tossing a folder that had some photos spill out of it. On the photos were photos of both Gorou and Itto with Gorou changing in and out of Ms. Hina inside of Itto’s bedroom the night that the two became an official couple. Both Itto and Gorou’s cheeks redden in embarrassment as they were caught red handed. “A little beetle told me differently.” Alice remarked as Gorou quickly took the photos to hide them. Remember that night caused the idol to squirm a bit, feeling uneasy at how easily Itto got him excited at the thought of being exposed like that. “You can keep or destroy those if you so wish. I have backups.” Alice added, figuring that even if she lost those photos, the backups were safe and sound.
“What do you want?!” Gorou asked, figuring that he might as well hear what Alice wanted in order to keep quiet about this whole thing. Even Yae Miko didn’t go this far to get what she wanted. Sure Yae did some shady stuff in the past, but to straight up black mail an intimate moment between idol and oni was just not in the cards. At least, that’s what Gorou hoped.
“Sign with my company. Then I’ll make these photos disappear.” Alice spoke bluntly, keeping her gaze onto Gorou. She watched as Gorou carefully took the photos and tried to figure out how she was able to get photos of the two. They seemed to be at a higher location, some even being on the ceiling. Did she strap a small camera onto the many onikabuto’s in order to get a picture of the two of them? Gorou’s cheeks felt like they were going to catch on fire from the embarrassment he was feeling.
“I-” Gorou started to speak before feeling the force of the door being flung open with bits of electricity seeming to fill the room. Some of the electricity bounced around and destroyed some of the photos that rested on the table. The familiar tapping of heels against tile echoed in Gorou’s ears.
“Will do no such thing.” Yae’s voice came from the door, resulting in Gorou tensing up. The room was mostly silent besides the sound of electricity bouncing around the room as Yae walked towards the table. Stopping when she reached Gorou’s side, Yae Miko kept her eyes locked onto Alice. The silence tension between the two women made the silence in the room sound almost deafening. The seconds felt like hours before one of them started to speak.
“Well if it isn’t the little fox from Inazuma.” Alice started to speak, a cocky grin landing on her face.”Surely you have more important things to do than come to your appearance idol’s rescue.” Alice remarked, which only seemed to cause Yae to huff a bit.
“You mean like making sure that your little girl is safe?” Yae snapped back, causing Alice to stand up in a huff. “Rookie mistake in using your gullible little girl to set up a trap that doesn’t require bombs.” Yae continued, causing Alice’s hands to clench angrily for a few seconds. “I mean, didn’t you ever teach your daughter about the dangers of strangers?” Yae added on, keeping a triumphant smirk on her face as she wished she could see how red Alice’s face was right now.
“And yet that same little girl was able to trick your idol into taking a gift. Who would have thought that a little girl’s smile was enough to capture your idol in record time?” Alice quickly remarked, turning Yae’s remark against her. “Honestly, you act as if I plan on using your precious idol for some nefarious plan. All I want to do is to make an idol group, little fox. It’s not like I’m planning on destroying all of Teyvat or something.” Alice continued, placing her hands on her hips.
“You and I both know that isn’t true Alice.” Yae responded back, tilting her head to the side. “I may not know what you are planning, but I’m not letting you take my idol away from me.” Yae continued before snapping her fingers. The chair that was seemingly stuck was now free to move, allowing Gorou to move again. “Besides, he already renewed his contract with me.” Yae added as an extra flaunt to Alice.
“You mean the same illegal contract that you made him sign regarding a particular oni?” Alice was quick to remark, causing both Gorou and Itto to look at Yae with a concerned look on their faces. Itto didn’t know what Alice was talking about, but Gorou did. “Isn’t it illegal to have stipulations involving someone when they weren’t there to witness, or agree to the conditions in the first place?” Alice continued, causing Yae to sigh a bit.
“It may have seemed that way, but who said I wasn’t willing to employ Itto? After all, he did rescue my precious lil’ idol plenty of times. So I was going to offer him a signing to be part of the security team to ensure Ms. Hina’s safety.” Yae spoke as she snapped her fingers, causing a briefcase to appear. “I just couldn’t find him until now.” Yae continued as she set the briefcase on the table.
“Wait, you mean I get to be Ms. Hina’s personal bodyguard?” Itto asked, his voice not even remotely hiding his excitement. It was a personal dream of Itto’s to be Ms. Hina’s personal guard. It meant that he would be able to stay close by to Ms. Hina and protect her, just like that fateful day. “Where do I sign?!” Itto asked excitedly as Yae pulled out the documents.
As the two went over the papers, and Itto signing all lines, Gorou couldn’t help but feel relieved that Yae came to his rescue. If Gorou would have been trapped there, he wouldn’t even know what to do. Alice had photos of Gorou transforming in and out of the Ms. Hina disguise. She could use that information to completely ruin Ms. Hina’s reputation. Not to mention that it would put Itto into the spotlight. But with the oni being Ms. Hina’s bodyguard, maybe it’ll be easier on the both of them. But then the question of how he would have the Arataki gang and their territory came into mind. How would Itto be able to defend it if he was on the road with Ms. Hina?
“And there we have it.” Yae’s voice seemingly bringing Gorou out of his train of thought. “Welcome aboard, Itto.” Yae continued, only to put the papers back into the briefcase. With a snap of her fingers the briefcase was gone. “So, how about in exchange for your daughter's safety, you delete all the evidence of the intimate night my two employees had, and let us leave without another word of your little idol plan?” Yae spoke in a somewhat cheerful but intimidating tone.
Alice was silent for a bit, knowing that her daughter’s safety was more important than her idol plan. With a defeated sigh, Alice crossed her arms over her chest. “Alright, you won this round little fox.” Alice remarked, knowing when she had been defeated. “But next time, I won’t give up so easily. Mark my words.” Alice spoke before the room started to get brighter. Behind Alice was a bright fire that started to consume the woman, causing Alice to disappear, leaving nothing behind but a bit of ash.
With an exhaled sigh, Gorou was relieved that he didn’t have to switch sides. Glancing up to Yae, Gorou smiled at Yae. “Thanks for the rescue, Yae.” Gorou thanked the fox woman. “I didn’t think you cared that much.” Gorou remarked honestly. He didn’t think that Yae considered Gorou to be an essential part of being Ms. Hina.
“Aw, were you scared lil’ pup?” Yae asked, pinching Gorou’s cheeks a bit. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you.” Yae continued with the light teasing. “Besides, I really did need to get Itto to sign the papers to make him an employee so that the old bats would get off my case about Itto being around so much.” Yae knew how much people didn’t like oni’s hanging around, but Itto was an exception in her book. “Now, let’s go ahead and leave this place. We have a concert to get ready for and I will not have it delayed.” Yae remarked, making her way towards the door.
Gorou got up from his seat, walking behind Yae and Itto before stopping in place. Heading back towards the table, Gorou made sure to collect all of the photos, even the destroyed ones. The last thing he wanted was to have any evidence of that night. Not that he was ashamed of it, but rather he only wanted Itto the chance to see his flustered face like that. Running back out the door, Gorou caught up with the two, who were seemingly waiting for the elevator. Pressing the folder against his chest, Gorou was just glad that he could have a private love life with the oni that saved him.